In this video we’re going to talk about the modern, electronic marshalling systems
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video!
Marshaling in F1 has come a long way in the 21st century as Formula 1 has moved beyond
people waving flags at the side of the track communicating with race control via walkie-talker.
Now, the race is controlled by a sophisticated, interconnected electronic system that allows
decisions to be made quicker, marshals to stay safer and drivers to be more reliably
informed of the live track status. To get the inside information on this, I spoke
to Luca De Angelis from EM Motorsport, the company responsible for the technology beyond
Formula 1’s marshaling system. Luca: Yeah, so I am Luca De Angelis, EM Motorsport
deputy manager and senior racetrack engineer for Formula One, and yeah, my work is trying
to make motorsport as better it is now. Stuart: EM Motorsport designs many components
that make up the complete marshaling System used across race weekends - the most obvious
being the electronic flag panels seen alongside the track.
These digital flags are fitted with 2000 LEDs that replicate messaging previous shown by
cloth flags alone. They were introduced to Formula 1 in 2009 and are now mandatory for
Grade One circuit use. But what do these digital flags offer that
the decades-tested method of having human marshals waving flags lacked on its own?
Luca: So basically, in the cars there were no signals, no information to the driver apart
from the marshal waving the normal flags around the circuit.
Of course, this was creating some issues because the driver maybe was not looking in the right
position, so he couldn't see the marshal flag. But it was also dangerous for the marshals
to be exposed on the track to wave this flag and try to reach [as far] as possible...
But now with the panels, we can place the panel very close to the track so the driver
can clearly see it. But the marshal can be kept safe in a position
beyond the fence and maybe far away from a corner...
Stuart: When we, the audience, think of sectors we think of the three timing sectors that
divide the lap up. These are the sector times shown during qualifying and the race that
highlight in purple or green as faster times are achieved.
But from a race control perspective, the track is divided into many more ‘marshaling sectors’,
which can easily be seen here on the Race Director’s notes for Imola, for example.
Each marshaling sector has an electronic flag at its start which controls the track status
up to the next marshaling sector. A yellow flag flown at marshal light location
eight means the whole of sector 8 is under yellow flag conditions and - if a green light
is shown at light location 9, that’s where the yellow flag zone ends.
The marshal in control of their digital flag for their sector should be able to see the
entire sector ahead of them while positioned safely away from the dangers on track as this
marshal at the controls may well be a few hundred metres away from the light panel they
control as the light panels can be suspended directly over the track, further than any
physical cloth flag could reach with LEDs that shine brightly in rain, sunset, night
and spray. As soon as they activate the flag, the signal
is sent, not just to the flag panel but to race control and to the steering wheel dashboards
of any drivers in the affected sector. Luca: In Imola, this week we had the accident
between Bottas. So there is an onboard camera from Raikkonen that was just behind where
the crash was still happening. You can see on the record steering wheel,
the flags coming on. So basically, in the moment, the two cars were still colliding
with each other, the marshal presses the yellow flag,
the flag was displayed on the panel and information was sent to the cars that were approaching.
So in a fraction of a second, all systems they're working for many people in both.
Stuart: So if a controlling marshal spots an event in their sector they, say, activate
the yellow flag, double yellow flag, blue flag, slippery surface flag or whatever and
this information is sent to race control where they can tap into cameras, including CCTV,
and communicate with the marshals to decide further action like a safety car or a red
flag. But at the heart of all of this are the marshals
themselves. They are the key. Luca: The marshals are still very important
in motorsport , because it's true we have lots of technology, we have CCTV cameras,
we have GPS positioning, we have all this technology, but the human reaction and the
human perception of what is happening is still the most important thing.
So, when the marshal sees something that is happening that may be dangerous, he knows
already if he was to show a yellow flag or a double yellow flag depending on the situation
and the moment you press the button, the information is sent to race control.
Stuart: And while localised sector flag information is sent to any driver entering that sector,
circuit wide signals like the deployment of the safety car are sent to every driver’s
steering wheel simultaneously. The electronic flags were introduced in 2009,
accompanied by lights on the dashboard that flashed for the drivers, before the modern
dashboard screens were introduced across all the cars.
The shift across to the electronic system was actually fairly painless.
Luca: I would just want to say that flag panels and the normal flags are the exact same.
What I mean is that the partners have not completely replaced the man on track now,
we still have flags waved by the marshals. And there is no difference between the flagpole
and normal flags in terms of meaning. So for example, if I have a yellow flag on
the corner and 200 metres after I have a green flag weighed by a marshal, that green flag
is still acting as the end of the yellow sector Stuart: But at the heart of the Marshalling
System is the problem they were asked to solve at the very beginning, way back in 2006: monitoring
accurate live location data for all the cars on track.
Luca: Basically, it started with a single question, and was from Charlie Whiting asking,
“I want to see the position of the cars on track.”
And that was the first step: “can you do it?” Yes, of course, we can.
It took us some time, but in 2006 we had the first cars forecast with GPS position through
radio. And then it was quite a collaborative relationship with FIA and Formula One for
the first few years. Stuart: While the GPS systems used by EM are
more accurate than the ones typically found in your car’s satnav or your phone’s map
app, they do have limitations that need to be understood.
Luca: Let's say in a situation with clear sky or in a good environment, we can easily
reach like 20 to 30 centimetres. The situation is a bit more complicated when
we are under a tunnel in Monte Carlo or Singapore or Baku - these are conditions where infrastructure
like GPS can have some issues. And in this condition, we need to intervene
with sensors like inertial sensors or gyroscopes and work together with this sensor to create
an algorithm that gives us the possibility to position the car in the right position.
Stuart: And while this level of precision - well within a metre of accuracy on a good
day can provide extremely useful information for driver tracking, including when a car
stops unexpectedly on track or leaves the tarmac, it is unfortunately not pinpoint sharp
enough to deal with the ongoing problem of track limits.
Luca: Now unfortunately the GPS may still have some drift depending on the force, that
lateral force of the vehicle that is the drift. I mean GPS works quite well in an empty field.
If I have, I don't know, a farm tractor that is driving a straight line for the 20 kilometres
per hour we can have a two centimetre position sure,
but on an F1 car with the hard braking and deceleration, acceleration - that is less
accurate. So when we are talking about track limits,
we are talking about really two or three centimetres. It's possible to give a sort of indication
that the car is out of [...] track limit, but it cannot be used as an official measurement
for track limits. Stuart: And all this information - the flag
statuses, the track sectors and the driver positions are the exact data fed into the
TV graphics we audiences around the world see on the world feed.
Luca: That is a funny thing that I usually tell to some of the marshals. When they do
some briefing. I tried to explain to them how important is
the difference between yellow flag and double yellow flag, for example, and how important
is their role as a marshal. Because when I tell them that the moment they
press the button, the drivers will see the flag through the panel.
So for the dash race control, see the flag, the teams see the flag, but also millions
of viewers will see the flag. So that is what one button can do to the whole
world. Just not give them too much pressure, but…
Stuart: You give them a lot of power! Luca: Yeah, exactly. So this is how the systems
link together Stuart: Another piece of the puzzle designed
to track safety data are the Accident Data Recorder and the Ear Piece Accelerometer - both
of which use sensors to monitor and record acceleration and movement in cases of impact
and accident. The ADR is full of accelerometers and gyroscopic
sensors that define and record the accident severity. It works like a black box with information
being logged all the time that doesn’t necessarily need to be accessed until it needs to be analysed,
like in the case of a severe impact. Luca: And this information is useful to FIA,
when they do some accident analysis to identify problems with the brakes or deceleration or
impact and all this sort of information that are useful then for future development for
a stronger car future safety programmes. There have been quite a few accidents where the
information from ADR helped the FIA to improve the car chassis or other things.
Stuart: Five or six years ago the Ear Piece Accelerometers were introduced, which hide
sensors inside the drivers’ radio earpieces to record head movement.
Luca: this information can be used to understand the brain movements and the head of the driver
movements and no oscillation and all this information is because the ear canal is the
closest part to the brain of the driver. It's quite important to understand [...] the effects
of an accident over the driver’s brain. Stuart: And while this information is used
a lot for post-accident analysis to improve and develop safety systems, recognised accident
data will immediately be sent to race control and the relevant medical teams so they can
instantly be informed on the nature of the impact.
Luca: A clear example was last year with Grosjean on impact. As soon as the car hit the barrier,
we received information of the impact. And of course in that situation the medical
car was already behind because it was the first lap of the race but information was
sent for race control. It was sent to the medical car as well.
And so they knew already some of the information of the accident. It's extremely direct information.
Last week in Imola again, the accident between Bottas and Russell, we received the notification
as soon as the two cars collide together. So yeah, in less than a couple of 100 milliseconds,
we receive information, all the impact. Stuart: While human marshals remain the centre
of race marshalling, as well they should, having ever interconnected electronic systems
to quickly communicate important track information between the marshals, race control, the drivers,
the teams and even the commentators and the audience themselves has improved things dramatically.
Things move at a high speed in F1 so being able to reduce the time between on-track incident
occurring to actively controlling the safety of the track and communicating it to the drivers
will reduce accident and injury, and save lives.
Many thanks again to Luca De Angelis for speaking with me from the inside. I’ll try and speak
with more people on the inside in future to keep you more closely connected with the people
involved in making Formula 1 work.